SLI 560TI vs Crossfire 6950 vs 580

archer35

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I was wondering witch of these three options (try to keep it to those three i ruled out 570's as their not in my budget) will run video games best at 1080p resolution on a 21 inch monitor with these computer specs.
I5-2500k OC'ed
2x4GB of 1600MHz RAM
Monitor as mentioned above
The Mobo will be bought off of whatever I end up getting above from that GPU selection so here are the cards I looked at (feel free to suggest others) and i have no part or site preferance and live in Chicago, IL
580 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130590
560ti's http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565
6950's http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125385&Tpk=Gigabyte%20R695OC-1GD

Before I forget im looking to push games like BF3's settings as high as I can. As well if I get the 580 i most likely wont be getting another card for SLI and if i do it will be a long time from now not anytime soon.
 
Solution
Gigabyte has a m-ATX Z68 board for just over $100. I forget the model number but it's one of their cheapest boards. It has 3 PCIe 16 slots so you can crossfire/sli. Actually not sure which it supports... check it out though.

archer35

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Why the 560ti or 6950's i realize that these are both good cards but im looking of witch between the two to use not being told there both good.
 

Ahelpinghand

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OP has already stated that he won't get a second 580, making future proof or not irrelevant. Also, GTX 560 SLi, will not only surpass the 580, it blows it out of the water without a sweat.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-sli-review/7
Definetely go SLi, this will last much longer, and will play any game faster than the 580, and overclocking will grant about 30% FPS boost. (One card gives about 15-17%)
 
6950 2gb in crossfire is the fastest of those options and 2gb of VRAM can be useful. BF3 is maxing out my 1gb and causing some issues for me so I need to turn AA from 4x to 2x (rest of it on Ultra). Averaging over 60fps but for when the VRAM is full, causes bad lag. At 2x no such issue but my FPS is over 70 avg.
 

archer35

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That sounds the best of all the options as im willing to pay the extra 40 or so dollars the the extra VRam. However ive heard B3 has problems with CF right now with the latest drivers and if i was to go for the 2gb what would be the best card. Ive heard alot of good things about the toxic.
 
Well BF3 has been playing just fine with my CF cards, the only issue is that with all the settings maxed including 4xAA my 1gb runs out and causes lag. What I see in GPU usage is that at those points my 2nd GPU usage drops to about 50%. I don't know that it's a crossfire issue, since it only happens when my VRAM usage is maxed.

At 2xAA it is smooth as butter.

As for brands there's a lot of good ones. I'd recommend not getting a reference model as the cooling will get loud. However if you're interested in trying to unlock the card to 6970 then try to find one with dual-BIOS switch.
 

archer35

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I just went and did some research on the Toxic card. It comes with flashed already with the second BIOS setting the flashed one. Seems perfect for me.
 

ford1

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That is exactly what I did. Plus, there is the option of tri fire for less than any of the other configurations. I am really leaning towards picking up the third card and building it all at once. Now all I have to do is figure out what motherboard I want to use. I want to wait and pick up one of the new boards, I don't know, decisions,decisions...
 

According to reviews of BF3, your "running out of VRAM and needing to turn down the AA settings" is a problem with AMD cards, not your lack of VRAM. Right now the AMD drivers are not cutting it in BF3, in fact Guru3d couldn't get the 6990 to work at all.

Quote:
"Here we are at the most common used resolution for the Radeon/GeForce gaming class, 1920x1200 is the most preferred monitor resolution (next to to 1920x1080). I know that many had hoped that GeForce GTX 560 Ti would be sufficient, but it's a borderline experience at best. Your best next model is the GeForce GTX 570. AMD Radeon-wise well, the cards are just all struggling. Would the R6990 have worked, that dynamic would have changed.
So ATI Radeon users at 19x12 will need to drop MSAA, choose another AA mode or lower image quality settings."
http://www.guru3d.com/article/battlefield-3-vga-and-cpu-performance-benchmark-test/6

 

It's a huge game. You know they're working around the clock right now to fix it.


I assume you're using the latest 11.10 WHQL's:

-Improves performance in Battlefield 3 Open Beta release for both non-Anti-Aliasing and application enabled Anti-Aliasing cases on single GPU configurations using the AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 series of products.

-Improves performance in Battlefield 3 Open Beta release for both non-Anti-Aliasing and application enabled Anti-Aliasing cases on AMD CrossFire™ configurations using the AMD Radeon HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 series of products.
 

ford1

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It sounds as though we have the same dilemma...I am in the same boat as you my friend. I ahve already purchased two of the cards and may pick up a third :D I am looking hard at the Asrock here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131760

The Asrock will be compatable with Ivy Bridge from what I have read, I am not sure about the Asus, I have read yes and no. Not to mention it is quite a bit more money. Maybe someone with more knowledge can comment on this. The big thing for me, is do I wait for the new boards and chips or move forward this month?

 

In general the HD6950 has a little bit of a performance edge but there are titles out there that will perform better on nvidia, I personally would pick between them on price so in this case GTX560Ti but then a gain I would go with cheaper version http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363
 

archer35

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I dont need ivy bridge compatibility thats a luxury if i can afford it. id like to keep the price of the mobo 100 or a little more dollars as possible both of those blow that budget away.
 
Gigabyte has a m-ATX Z68 board for just over $100. I forget the model number but it's one of their cheapest boards. It has 3 PCIe 16 slots so you can crossfire/sli. Actually not sure which it supports... check it out though.
 
Solution